Sadly, Gibbs has gotten so high on his own supply that he actually had the nerve to publicly snap at a respected black female journalist for merely asking some legitimate questions about the "party crashers" last week. And yep, she clapped back. As any man who's been on the receiving end of a tongue-lashing from a sista during the course of his life knows, this got sorta ugly.
Seriously, folks, who the hell behaves like this? This nitwit compares a serious journalist to his preteen child. Personally, I like how the sista (AUN's April Ryan) clapped back on him with that "don't play with me" line. But it didn't stop his arrogant, sneering a$$ from continuing to be a douche.
CNN's Don Lemon (whom I think is doing a great job, BTW) goes on on Gibbs/Ryan Round 5, the video of Ryan's response is much better in this video. This isn't the first time they've gone back and forth, BTW.
Is this really a way for a professional, whose actual job is all about answering questions to react? Do you really think Jamaal Simmons would have cold carried a sista like that? I think not.
Gibbs is, and will always be, a walking epic fail who unfortunately will continue to set the Obama Administration back every day he's allowed to hold court. But then again, the guy apparently has a wicked jump shot, and we know every pickup ball team needs a white dude who can shoot. So...
Question: Did Robert Gibbs completely disrespect this sista, or is he merely doing his job of covering up the rank incompetence of the rest of the WH staff? Was Ryan (who has a rep as a bit of a hothead) out-of-pocket for belaboring the point? What exactly will it take to get this dude canned?
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You know I agree with you on this one 100%. Her question hadn't been answered for goodness knows how long; therefore, she had every right to keep asking. We know good and hell well if this were a Black man, a White man, or a White woman, this shit would NOT have gone down this way and everyone would be defending them. But nope, it's a Black woman so she's "pushy", "has an attitude problem", etc. and ad nauseam.
Obama needs to make Gibbs GTFOOH for that foolishness and for his own (image) sake.
It's gone down this way several times before... Gibbs is a punk. he's out of his depth.
Tony Snow knew how to crack a joke and still treat people with respect. It's not like April Ryan is new to the press pool... and this NEVER happened in his press room.
Condescending ass!
Mario Lopez for press secretary!
Ms. Ryan's question was just pure conjecture and rumor mongering. Gibbs rightly didn't want to go down that path. "Overshadowing the First Lady"? "Belle of the ball"? "Some say?" Come on.
Ryan's tone and cadence was extremely aggressive so she got a response in kind. It's not the first time it happened in press briefings and it won't be the last.
Other than saying "That's a stupid question which I already answered-next!", I don't know how else Gibbs could have handled it.
gibbs was out of line...but ryan's question was out of line as well. what was the relevance in her question, really? all it sounded like was she was trying to stir up some mess...pitting two black women against one another in the media. gibbs was wrong for equated her actions to a child's, but truth be told, i think she was acting quite childish. **shrugs shoulders** from my vantage point it looked like two people who were smelling themselves...like both of them are the sh!t
I agree that BOTH were wrong in this case. Gibbs was out of line with his tone and Ryan sounded like she belonged on Park Heights somewhere with that "don't play with me" comment.
Unprofessional all around.
In my opinion both were kinda out of line Gibbs with his like me son comment and also Ryan with the "don't play with me" comment. Seriously the last thing we need is to reinforce a sapphire stereotype. If her question was something more substantive as say sending more troops to Afghanistan or pulling out of Iraq I would go more to bat for her.
Its easy to beat up on Gibbs for losing the messaging battle for the President. I say instead of blaming the messenger blame the president for pushing his out of control big government spending. The real debate should not be on if Gibbs is a incompetent but on the President's big government spending.
@ Spool - I dont like to talk bad about dead folks but Tony Snow come on. A hack faux political news readers. Who are you going to pull out your hat next Dana Perino? lol
Ryan was dead wrong. She should be ashamed. But, that's what happens when journalists stop being journalists and start being entertainment reporters. I think his reaction was dead on. The question was childish, her actions were childish, so she got a childish response.
Why did she ask THAT question??? I for one like Gibbs. He went to NC State and he has connections to some people we both know. I think she needed to be put in her place, but perhaps not like that. If she is in the WH press corps, she needs to be able to ask relevant questions rather than perpetuate tabloid fodder.
In general, Gibbs needs more tact. He'd get more done.
After listening to Ryan and Don Lemon on CNN, I think Ryan's question had a serious enough point of order to contend: at issue is a security threat to the WH. The inner journalist in me wanted her to push the envelope--especially given that Obama campaigned on this transparency mess.
But, I am with AB on this one, Gibbs has had no tact from day one, and I was really never a fan, and I personally think Jamal Simmons should have some position at the WH, but meh, you can't win them all. But, what I absolutely loathed was how Gibbs handled it, it's one thing to dismiss a reporter as all WH Press Sec. have done, but to be condescending and to compare her to his child, I'm shocked she didn't get up and cuss his ass out. He should have simply said, "I've answered the question and we're moving on." She belabored the point, but she's a journalist, I would hope that any journalist worth their salt would push the envelope on some things.
It would take some big flub, real big flub for Gibbs to get fired or else he'd have to step down rather than Obama firing him.
Dammit. My computer's sound is still busted and now my boss has made us all disable the audio on our office computers, so I have no way of hearing this at all.
I don't like Gibbs. But what I hate even more are White House press corps reporters asking inane, STUPID tabloid questions, which it sounds like this was from what some of you are saying. It happens too often and it's absurd. If that's what this was, I am one thousand percent on Gibbs' side for what he did, but probably not for the way he did it.
Tell you this though---if I had his job and someone give me some inane tabloid fodder, I indeed would call them out. Enough of this nonsense. What do these reporters think this is, a game?
@ Marbles
It really sounded like a tabloid question, honestly, but I think it's a surface question that goes to the lack of security meted out by the Secret Service.
I thought Sistagurl was lil aggressive myself.
@Wave:
You've got the wrong look on Snow... he was a great press secretary. Message control extraordinaire, and the news was never about him until it was about him. RIP.
They were both smelling themselves. Stupid question, referencing "belle of the ball" and "overshadowing the first lady." Reporters as well as lawyers know, the way you ask the question is always determinative of the type of response you get. As for Gibbs, no opinion on him in general. His response was out of line, though. And in general, i think the whole WH briefing with reporters is a big dog and pony show. To that end; however, an effective press secretary is someone who can step above the fray of annoying and sometimes silly questions and not becoming news YOURSELF! Gibbs's inability to do so warrants some scrutiny by BHO. Whatever happened to that light-skinned brotha, during the campaign that they had go on FOX nEWs for BHO. Bill Burton?
@ Broham
Burton is also in the WH, somewhere in the communications dept. I think he could do a better job than Gibbs, simply because he's better at keeping his composure. This is a pretty high turnover position anyway, so I'm guessing he's next in line.
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